AUTONEWS

Drive-in Cinemas re-emerge in the US with coronavirus pandemic 

Drive-in-style cinema, dismissed by many as just a relic of past times in the United States, is returning to fashion as an entertainment designed to meet the demands of social distancing in the coronavirus era.
Beth Wilson, who owns the Warwick Drive-In, located about an hour's drive from Manhattan, says she sold every space she had since May 15, the first day the drive-ins could operate under New York's reopening plan.
The drive-in fell well for Americans who have basically been confined to their homes since March, watching the death toll by Covid-19 multiply through the news on television.
Customers are " coming to leave home and for a form of entertainment other than streaming services on their TVs,” Wilson said, adding that he hopes his establishment will help people re-establish the connection with each other. "I just want to see your happiness, your well-being.”
The drive-in experience ends up serving tailor - made for the pandemic. Clients control social interaction and any contact with another person takes place outdoors, where there is less chance of infection than indoors.
The Four Brothers Drive - in in Amenia, also in New York State, is another one that has cut its total capacity to maintain greater distance between cars, but is selling already for next week, after stocking up on Memorial Day weekend.
“There are many people who for the first time are asking and coming,” said John Stefanopoulos, whose family has the drive-in and an adjacent restaurant. "People want to get out of their homes.”
Stefanopoulos thinks the drive-ins industry has a chance to see a high support, after 90% drop in demand in recent decades. He received questions about the creation of open-air cinemas in England, Ireland and throughout the territory of the United States.
There are people wanting to capitalize on this trend. The Bel Aire Diner in the New York neighborhood of Queens has placed a large screen in its parking lot and is showing movies and serving food in cars while people watch classics like "the promised Princess" and”Rocky Festival of Terror".
With a more ambitious plan, a businessman stated that he is organizing a “steroid drive-in” event, to be held in the parking lot of the stadium of the New York Yankees baseball team, after July 4. Marco Shalma, one of the owners of the MASC Hospitality Group, said the events will have food, performances and a movie, and that he sees them as a way to invigorate the city.

Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut-EUA